malinger
verb (used without object)
to pretend illness, especially in order to shirk one's duty, avoid work, etc.
had been malingering
-
past perfect progressiveof malinger.past perfect progressive
Used to describe an action that was ongoing continuously in the past up until another past event interrupted it.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These men had been malingering all winter in order to skulk out of danger; so he treated them with extreme leniency in only putting them on duty as a 'company of Invalids.'
From The Father of British Canada: a Chronicle of Carleton by William Charles Henry Wood
She was a nervous, highly-strung patient, and I had expected to find that she had been malingering; but to my surprise, upon thorough examination I convinced myself that she had really gone blind.
From Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia An account of an Englishwoman's Eight Years' Residence amongst the Women of the East by A. Hume-Griffith
